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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

How Authentic Are You Prepared To Be As A Screenwriter?

Whether
you’re writing a superhero blockbuster or a DIY lo-budget indie film, your
writing will be best when there’s something uniquely yours on the page. But
that’s terrifying.

What everyone in the film business is
looking for in a script, is an original voice. Something about the subject
matter and the writing style that sets it apart from the mass of generic,
derivative scripts trying to jump on the bandwagon of recent box office or cult
hits. For the screenwriter this is good and bad news. The good news is: There’s
only one of you, so your unique experiences and point of view are inherently
original. The bad news is: Writing from your own embarrassing, shameful or even
traumatic experience, exposes you to criticism that can be extremely painful
and inhibitive.

Embracing Rather Than Overcoming Your
Demons

Terrified screenwriter embracing his demon

In his wonderful book Writing From The Inside Out, screenwriter turned psychotherapist Dennis Palumbo talks
about how writers often become frustrated because they try to circumvent their embarrassing
hang-ups or painful memories rather than embracing them for what they are:
their own personal archive of raw material. Plus, what’s unique about a
writer’s experience, however disturbing, is part of being human and so
something to which other human beings will be able to relate. Which isn’t an
encouragement to refuse to write anything other than a verbatim transcription
of a highly emotional real life event (‘No, but it really happened that way!’),
because that’s always less interesting to others than to you. But it does mean
that your awful first kiss, your liberating divorce, your shameful experience as a son or a daughter or
as a father or mother—all these unprocessed experiences are chock full of authentic details, characters and emotions just begging to be mined rather
than avoided.

Exposing Yourself Emotionally Is Risky

Cut that scene, it turns my stomach.

The truth is, it is a terrifying prospect
to let strangers have a peek at your dark side, however authentic it may be.
They might laugh, be disgusted or simply disbelieving. Believe me, I’ve
received notes from readers disapproving of actions or traits of characters in
my writing which were direct representations of my own life. It doesn’t make
you feel good when a reader exclaims: “What kind of a shmuck would ever do that?!”
But what’s also true, as Dennis Palumbo writes, is that all screenwriting is
autobiographical. Not literally, but whatever you write is informed by and
infused with the way you experience the world, your past experiences and the
values you believe in. Even if you try and hide it (that’s part of you in
action, too…). So it hurts when someone dismisses or disapproves of your
material, because you’re so invested in it and it feels like they’re rejecting
you personally. But it’s par for the course and the risk is worth taking,
because at the very least you come out the other end wiser and better
equipped for your next writing challenge. And if you don’t stick your neck out, chances
are your writing will feel inhibited or generic, which will certainly and
justifiably lead to rejection anyway.

Why Authenticity Matters

I'm sorry, this suit just isn't me.

Lying, denying, avoiding, pretending, and
so on, are all very stressful occupations. And in terms of writing, they cause you to (unwittingly perhaps) try and spare your characters the confrontations
and conflicts you yourself are avoiding in real life. Whereas these are the
very conflicts that you know most intimately! Again, being authentic doesn't mean getting rid of these conflicts. On the contrary, it means acknowledging and embracing them as a real part of who you are. Tapping into them for their emotional power. But besides being essential for
being able to fully identify with and inhabit your characters, for being able to
write honestly and truthfully (and therefore more engagingly), being authentic
is basically just a lot better for you than being stuck in denial. Here’s an
article from Psychology Today which explains the benefits of authenticity nicely. So, basically: Lie, deny,
avoid, pretend and so on, but write truthfully about what that’s like…

Lastly, a huge thank you to the amazing
Corey Mandell, who recommended Dennis Palumbo’s book to me. But more
about Corey and his mind-boggling screenwriting insights in my next post.